Aircraft Specialty Fasteners Market to reach US$ 1.3 billion in 2024

The aircraft specialty fasteners market is likely to witness a healthy growth over the next five years to reach an estimated value of US$ 1.3 billion in 2024. The major factors underpinning the growth of aircraft specialty fasteners are: an incessant increase in air passenger traffic all around the world, which is triggering an increase in the production rates of the key programs such as B737, A320 family, B787, and A350XWB; market entry of new players such as COMAC and Irkut; introduction of variants of existing best-selling aircraft programs such as B737 max, A320neo, and B777x; and increasing aircraft fleet size.

Aircraft Specialty Fasteners Market, By Aircraft Type

The aircraft specialty fasteners market is segmented based on the aircraft type as commercial aircraft, regional aircraft, helicopter, military aircraft, and general aviation. Commercial aircraft is expected to remain the largest and fastest-growing segment of the market during the forecast period. Both major commercial aircraft OEMs: Boeing and Airbus, are increasing the production rates of their best-selling aircraft in order to meet a huge pile of order backlogs. Also, COMAC and Irkut are entering the commercial aircraft industry with their C919 and MC-21 aircraft programs. Boeing anticipated that there would be total deliveries of 42,730 commercial aircraft worth US$ 6.3 trillion in the global marketplace during 2018-2037. All these factors are likely to create sustainable demand for specialty fasteners for the commercial aircraft segment in the foreseeable future.

Aircraft Specialty Fasteners Market, By Product Type

Based on the product type, the aircraft specialty fasteners market is segmented as blind rivets, blind bolts, solid rivets, panel fasteners, studs and inserts, and others. Blind rivet is expected to remain the largest segment of the market during the forecast period, propelled by its installation efficiency and ergonomic benefits over traditional fasteners. The rivet type is also estimated to grow the fastest in the coming five years. Blind bolt, another member of blind fasteners family, is subjected to grow at an impressive rate for the same period.

Specialty fasteners are made using a wide array of materials such as titanium, aluminum, steel, and others. Titanium-based specialty fasteners dominate the market and are expected to maintain their position during the forecast period as well. In the aircraft industry, there has been an incessant replacement of steel and other heavy metal-based fasteners with titanium fasteners, owing to their excellent performance at a relatively low weight. Also, titanium fasteners are highly compatible with composite parts, which are increasingly being used in the next-generation aircraft including B787, A350XWB, and B777x.

Aircraft Specialty Fasteners Market, By Application Type

On the basis of application, the aircraft specialty fasteners market is segmented as airframe, flight control surfaces, interior, engine, and others. The airframe application is expected to remain the most dominant segment of the market during the forecast period. Airframe is the largest structure in the aircraft where specialty fasteners are used in a wide array of applications including wings and fuselage, leading to its dominance in the market.

Aircraft Specialty Fasteners Market, by Region

In terms of regions, North America is expected to remain the largest market for aircraft specialty fasteners during the forecast period. The USA is the growth engine of the region’s market with the presence of many specialty fastener manufacturers, large- and small-sized tier players, distributors, aircraft OEMs, airlines, and MRO companies. All the major specialty fastener manufacturers have their presence in the region to address the teething issues of the OEMs in order to be the partner for their upcoming aircraft programs or upcoming fuel-efficient variants of existing aircraft programs.

Asia-Pacific is expected to expand at the highest rate during the forecast period with China, Japan, and India being the key sources of growth. Substantial growth in air passenger and freight traffic in China and India are compelling aircraft manufacturers and tier players to open their manufacturing plants in the region. Further, key economies in the region are incessantly increasing their defense budget with the purpose to acquire the latest military aircraft to solidify their defense capabilities. Major companies in the Asia-Pacific region are striving hard to develop commercial and regional aircraft to meet the huge indigenous demand and to mitigate the level of dependency on Boeing and Airbus. COMAC C919 and Mitsubishi MRJ are examples of such efforts, which are already successful in piling excellent unfulfilled orders. These aircraft are in the developmental phase and are expected to enter into service in a couple of years. All these factors are likely to contribute substantially towards the growth of the aircraft specialty fasteners market in Asia-Pacific during the forecast period.